Film/TV professor
Doug Morrow collaborated with biology professor Russell Burke, who has studied
the turtles for more than 20 years. In the almost eight-minute film,
shot on a sunny day in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Prof. Morrow captures
dozens of terrapins as they come ashore to lay their eggs. The
turtles have an important ecological role in that they help preserve local
marsh grass, which in turn protects shorelines from the effects of harsh
storms. In recent years, the turtles have faced threats including decreasing
salt marsh habitat, pollutants in the bay, and raccoon and rat predators that
attack eggs and hatchlings.

“Wherever you see
healthy terrapin populations, you know you’ve got healthy salt marshes,” Dr.
Burke explains in the video. Over the last two decades, he and his
students have tagged 2,000 turtles in the area, studying their growth,
reproduction and survival, and publishing several studies on their
findings.

The short film is
one of several dealing with coastal resiliency that Prof. Morrow has produced
and directed over the last year for the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club, a
nonprofit environmental advocacy group. His most recent one addresses the
threat of annual pesticide spraying to dragonflies, which help control the mosquito population. The
organization uses the films to raise awareness of these issues with both the
public and legislators.

“I’m a lifelong
New Yorker and grew up going to the beach all the time, so I was particularly
thrilled to get involved with this project and help explain how we as a society
have an impact on our coastlines,” said Prof. Morrow, who often works with
nonprofits. Among his other work, he has produced videos for the
Long Island Music Hall of Fame. “I’m really grateful to be able to tell stories
that might not otherwise get told. It has made me a better
teacher.”

Both professors
enjoyed their collaboration. “We had a great day,” said Dr. Burke.
“Doug got some fantastic shots and also had infectious enthusiasm, which made
working with him especially fun. We managed to get all the things we
wanted in just a few takes.”

“I didn’t really know Russ before we started this project, but by the end, I felt like I had made a friend,” said Prof. Morrow. “The Sierra Club wanted to do a film on diamondback terrapins and he happened to be the leading scientist in this area. It was really great to watch him and his students work; you could see how dedicated they were.”